January 22, 2025

Minutes

New Discussions, Projects, or Initiatives

• Samantha Leung has joined Financial Aid as the Technical Operations Specialist.

• Software Inventory Group
  • Danny informed the group that IT was taking on a new initiative to inventory the software and applications that exist across the college.
  • Having participation from folks in Data Governance would be helpful for finding information like what programs are out there, who owns the contracts, what is their cost and purpose.
  • This is not only helpful from an IT standpoint but it may help limit redundancies and provide a costs savings.
  • A new ad hoc group will be formed to tackle this.

Standing Updates

• ZogoTech Outstanding Ticket/Enhancement Cleanup + HEIRS Data Element Additions   
  • Mike mentioned that he has been attending meetings with the Cross Campus Data Forum (CCDF), a group that is focused on data collection for the state’s HEIRS report.
  • Recently, the group has been discussing things like residency, credit accrual, point of entry, and major credits.
  • They really want to know when and how students start (new, stop out/in, Early College, transfer in).

• IT Update
  • IT Directory Cleanup
    • Danny informed the group that this project can be considered complete. IT has been using HRCMS to update the Active Directory and organizational chart and things are working well.
  • SoftDocs Update
    • Last year, a pilot grouped used SoftDocs for their annual NUP evaluation. That pilot is complete and IT is currently reviewing the feedback.
    • Two new forms are currently under development – an Electronic Door Access Form and a Process Change Request Form. Danny credited Cesar for his good work on the Process Change Request Form, as it has many complicated workflows.
    • Kirsten mentioned that that Process Change Request’s workflows were very similar to that of a Curriculum Change Request. Academic Affairs currently uses Watermark for this, and may be more appropriate for this purpose.
    • Danny will follow up with Sheila to see whether Watermark may be a better option for that purpose.
    • Joan and Hilary are working on creating forms for Financial Aid.
  • Cybersecurity Training
    • Danny provided an overview of this year’s cybersecurity training. This year, the training was rolled out to different employee groups at different times of the year.
    • The goal was to have participants complete the training within 40 days of hire, or 40 days from the day that the training went out. To bolster participation, reminders were sent on a weekly, and then daily cadence. The daily reminders would also include an employee’s supervisor.
    • IT learned that the 40 day requirement was in conflict with the AFSCME and MCCC bargaining agreements which stipulated that staff should have one year to complete the training.
    • IT adjusted the completion timeline for AFSCME and MCCC staff. Despite having to adjust the timeline, there was a participation rate of about 50% for all groups which is an increase from last year.
    • The training will launch again in July with additional events in October for cybersecurity month.
  • Banner Users Group
    • N/A

• Financial Value Transparency & Gainful Employment Act (FVT GE Act)
  • Heather reported that this initiative is now complete.
  • Over 7500 records were submitted to the NSC and NSLDS over break. Only 34 errors were returned, and Despina addressed those promptly.
  • The Department of Education did not extend the January 15th deadline, but did provide schools with an extension to continue to submit or fix errors if needed.
  • This group will be meeting soon to debrief and use the lessons learned the first time around to proactively prepare for the next cycle which starts in July.

• Lifelong Learning Extended Education (LLL EE)/Noncredit Update
  • Ethan and KB mentioned that the trainings with Modern Campus, LLL EE’s parent company, have been going very well.
  • LLL EE is a very complex system and the trainings have been helpful for learning how to best use the available features.

• NECCi and NECC One
  • Kirsten informed the group that the internal Data Governance meeting agendas and minutes would soon be in NECC One. She is currently working on creating a Data Governance section on the Institutional Research and Effectiveness page.

Ad-Hoc Group Updates

• HR Data Cleanup 
  • N/A

• Texting Platform Research
  • This group was originally created as a split from the Texting Protocol group. The primary goal was to explore the regulations that were related to texting and opt outs. Heather and Danny did some preliminary work and agreed that we did need to take action to solve the issue of having multiple texting platforms on campus.
  • Multiple platforms can create a problem for individuals wanting to opt out of texting. If they opt out in one platform, they may still receive a text in a different platform. That would be in conflict with FTC regulations.
  • Heather and Danny will continue to work to identify one platform that the college can use for texting. Ideally, the platform will have different channels so that individuals can subscribe to the texts that interest them.
  • This group is seeking additional members. If you are interested, please reach out to Danny.

Tabled

• Pre-requisite Cleanup

• Secure Data Sharing and Transfer Practices/Policy

• Veteran Affairs Data Cleanup

Miscellaneous

• New ADA requirements
  • The ADA has issued a new Rule on the accessibility of web content and mobile apps. The new requirements will also apply to course content.
  • There is a small working group (including Danny and Keith) currently working on recommendations for how to ensure compliance.
  • Susan hopes to share some additional information and recommendations by the February meeting.
• Learning Management System (LMS) Contract
  • The contract with our current LMS vendor, Anthology, parent company of Blackboard, is ending soon. In addition, Blackboard is moving all of their clients to Blackboard Ultra and discontinuing Blackboard Classic which NECC currently has.
  • CIT has put together a group who will be reviewing Blackboard Ultra, and other LMS platforms to determine what the best choice is for NECC.
  • Regardless of the solution that is chosen, there will be a course migration.
  • The college will be renewing with Blackboard for one more year, and ideally during that time will begin the process of training and planning the migration for the new system.